NEW ZEALAND / AUSTRALIA JOURNAL #1

09/06/2016

Well that’s 25 hours of my life I won’t be getting back 11.000 miles from my house in Dunfermline to New Zealand. No wonder NASA lied about going to the moon. Neil, Buzz and Ringo must have been bored out of their skulls on that gig. At least we could get up, move around a bit and not have to soil our own clothes. Those poor buggers had to sit for days in a confined space, eat dry food then piss themselves..

Come on NASA, let’s work with gravity not against it.

-Bruce

02/01/14
Dunfermline

Happy New Year!

Many thanks to everyone who supported us on The Journey in 2013. As you can imagine there were many high points as well as some low points. The recording of The Journey was a pleasure. Maybe the stars were aligned or something as the chemistry was right at the time. The touring aspect was another kettle of fish. We spent 6 months on a bus touring the Western Hemisphere which is really a social experiment. Think ‘Big Brother’ on wheels. Not great when most of the band are in their mid 50’s.

2014 will take us on a new adventure. There will be no long tours, but we will still be playing frequently, playing the songs from our past with some rarities thrown in, the way we played them back then. Also, some new ones. As you know, Mike has departed and Simon has come on board. I won’t go into the gory details of ‘who killed who’ but there are 2 sides to every story. Simon is fully committed to Big Country this year. By the way, for all you Facebookers and YouTubers out there, we are not hiding Simon at the back.

The first gig in Clitheroe was a pub gig as a favour and he was moved back because he was blocking the fire exit (lol) and the Lemon Tree has a really small stage, plus the person who filmed it didn’t focus on him. That aside, the conspiracy theories have been hilarious. So anyway, let’s hope this year will be good. My resolutions are to have a convention in the summer, get more involved in this social media thing (I am not very good at it), and put together a Steeltown tour for the last part of the year.

We make no promises

That is all.

More Memories
22/11/13
Dunfermline

Here is another picture from the attic. This is the day we got signed by Warner Bros in America. In this picture are Mo Austin, Ian Grant, Alan Edwards and Lenny Waronker.

Mo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels. He is known among his colleagues as the most artist-friendly executive in the music business.

He was hired as president of Reprise Records by Frank. At Reprise he was involved with such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr, The Kinks and, guess who?

Lenny produced recording sessions for Nancy Sinatra, The Everly Brothers, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, Maria Muldaur, Gordon Lightfoot, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, etc.

It was a privilege and a pleasure to be involved with those legendary people.

That is all.

Memories
15/11/13
Dunfermline

Stuart, Mark and Bruce with producer Rafe McKenna

Came across a batch of old photos in the attic last night. This is from the Driving To Damascus sessions at Rockfield Wales. Tony was in isolation booth getting ready to do his bass on ‘Dive Into Me’ and that is why he is absent from picture. We had a fantastic time at Rockfield and Rafe was a great choice for producer, he certainly brought out the best in us. I hope to scan in more photos from the past and share them with you.

Happy times indeed

That is all

Lerwick, Shetland
13/10/13

Shetland, Shetland, Shetland. So good they named it thrice.

First time on the island for Big Country and boy did we have a ball. You Shetlanders know how to party. Best Saturday night I have had in ages. The Mareel Centre was bouncing and we had a great time back at the hotel with some fantastic Shetland hospitality. You guys have a wonderful venue up there and I hope it brings work and revenue into the community. That is why this tour is really important to Big Country. We are playing in a lot of venues that are off the beaten track and I find that really satisfying, travelling the extra distance to take our music to the people of this wonderful place we call home. Check out the bulletin on the breakfast menu.

Shetland you rock.

That is all.

Sweet Home Alhambra
11/10/13
Dunfermline, Fife

Lord I’m coming home to you, so sang the great Lynyrd Skynyrd, (pronounced and spelt Lynyrd Skynyrd, although if you do a spell check it reads Lanyard Spaniard) Anyway enough of my yakkin’, Have a swatch of these two beauties I found in the attic. What a gorgeous pair of SG’s. The wine red one has a bolt on neck, and the sunburst is a replica of my old 500 that I had in the early 80’s built by Smiggs of Kirkcaldy. The replica has a glue in neck unlike the 2000 which was straight through and needed a brass sustain bar to improve the tone. This one is built to the same spec as a Gibson Les Paul and actually sounds like one. All pickups are Seymour Duncan and the 500 has a Di Marzio at neck with single coil.

Looking forward to seeing friends at this wonderful theatre in Dunfermline on the 19th.

That is all.

Dunfermline, Fife.

08/10/13

Thurso, Thurso, Thurso! What do I know about Thurso, well it’s the day sandwiched between Wedno and Frido. But apart from that, it is the most northerly town in the UK, and we are looking forward to starting our next journey at the top. The tour is going to take us out of the cities and into the towns the length and breadth of the country. As a band we always take the scenic route and can’t wait to take our show to these far flung places.

Now just wondering what axe to play with, this is my Antoria Junior that I found in an Aberdeen pawn shop on the last tour. As usual I have heavily modified it. All hardware was stripped off or rather fell off. I added the Bigsby tremolo arm and Strat pickup at the neck position. It also needed a refret. A few tweaks here and there and I have the ultimate punk rock guitar.

Thurso, we can’t wait

That is all.

Dunfermline, Fife.

03/09/13

Oi! Dorothy, close your eyes and tap your desert boots together three times.

Think to yourself, “There’s no place like the toon. There’s no place like the toon.”

Yes folks, here we are back in Dunfermline after living on a bus since June. What a social experiment that was. From the desert highway to the New York subway, 5 musicians, 3 road crew, 1 swag lady, 1 crazy driver plus 4 family. Thank God I got home with my sanity intact, well apart from falling asleep on the couch. Sandra tried to wake me and I told her she was a f*ckin’ weirdo and to get out of my bunk. Isn’t time travel wonderful? Tomorrow I will switch on the hoover and get Sarah and Jamie to shake my bed.

I would like to thank Jan, Sarah, Mickey V, Ray, Will, Jules, Wee Dylan, Medium Sized Dylan and young Evan, whose smile kept us all going every morning.

Also big thanks to all behind the scenes and LHS people.

Last but not least, North America and Canada, we love you and hope to come back next year for more shows.

A small city made of metal cometh.

That is all.

Pensacola, Florida

27/08/13

“Are we a bus?” shouts Ray upon pulling away from the truck stop. “Yes. We’re a bus.” is the usual reply, and we hit the road again. So far we’ve already left Jamie behind at a truck stop in Bum Fart, Nebraska thinking he was in his bunk sleeping which was an 8 hour round trip to get him back. Will got off the bus in Pig’s Testicle, Idaho to use the restroom and he was left behind. These mistakes are expensive and cost the band fuel, tolls, taxes and eat into the driver’s time. The simple solution is to hang your backstage pass on the steering wheel so the driver knows you are off the bus. This is one of the many problems that occur on the road.

Here is a little insight in to our world. That’s Mike leading us into another rousing chorus of 68 guns at the front. Only another 67 to go. Mark’s sitting in what’s known as the hot seat which is a bad place to be. Yes that’s last night’s stage costumes hanging up above him and the A/C is busted again. The canine shaped thing at the back performing an act of unspeakable vulgarity on Derek was almost road kill ’til he rescued him. He’s called Rodney and his bite is much worse than his bark. His farts are also rotten which explains the look of disgust on Mark’s face. Behind Jamie is our sleeping quarters. Notice the lack of modesty curtains, mattresses, pillows and comforters. The door to the right is the rest room which simply opens to the outside world, and believe me; you don’t want to take a rest there. Behind the sleeping quarters is the crew room. We don’t allow them to travel with us as we are the talent and are far superior intellectually to them. We do unchain them at truck stops but they always find their way back to the bus.

For some strange reason Jamie seems very happy in this picture. Whoever comes up with the funniest caption as to what he is thinking wins a free ticket to the Dunfermline Alhambra show in October.

That is all.